I thought it might also represent the state of game industry recruiting, with studios across town hiring from the same limited pool of talent. But Matt Wilson, studio boss at Sony Online Entertainment in Bellevue, said it's actually collegial.

Even though they're all competitors, the studio managers all seem to know each other and keep in touch, even when they're poaching employees from each other.

Gadgets and games | Fun stuff I've written about lately includes Apple's iPhone, Hewlett-Packard's HDX laptop and Microsoft's Halo3. Also on the radar are new digital video boxes such as the Tivo HD and the Vudu.